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City Skyscrapers Dim Lights For Birds
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 18, 2010
Modified Aug 18, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 18, 2010
Modified Aug 18, 2010
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While the Canada geese may be putting airplanes in danger, our tall buildings are putting migrating birds in harms way! According to the New York City Audubon, each year an estimated 90,000 birds are killed in the city when they collide with buildings and glass during migration to and from their breeding grounds. NYC Audubon director Glenn Philips told the Daily News, "Millions of birds pass through New York City on their way to their wintering grounds. They fly primarily at night over the city, and they get confused by the lights." The organization notes on their website that "since the program’s inception in 1997, over 4,000 dead and injured birds have been collected and documented in our database."
With that, their Project Safe Flight is back this year and has many of the city's brightest buildings dimming their lights so millions of migrating birds can pass through safely. The dimming will take place from September 1st to November 1st, midnight to dawn, and the buildings joining in include the Time Warner Center, the Empire State and Chrysler buildings.
While turning the lights down may be an easy task for some, the paper notes that older buildings often have to switch off their lights floor by floor!
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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